Monday, January 30, 2017

Kesaksian Pelayanan Penginjilan

Kesaksian Pelayanan Penginjilan
Oleh: Yohanes
Saya mulai dengan bagaimana Tuhan membawa saya untuk berada di dalam suatu desa. Itu terjadi kira-kira tahun 1989. Tuhan taruh sesuatu ke dalam hati saya untuk mengadakan pelayanan penginjilan bagi jiwa-jiwa. Adapun bentuk pelayanan yang Tuhan taruh adalah doa syafaat, bersyafaat. Supaya pelayanan ini bisa maksimal, Tuhan membawa saya kepada pengalaman pribadi dengan Tuhan sampai saya bisa menangisi jiwa-jiwa. Ini bentuk doa yang harus dilakukan sungguh-sungguh di hadapan Tuhan. Doa syafaat artinya kita harus mewakili manusia di hadapan Allah dan membawa manusia ke dalam tangan Tuhan. Jadi, masalah yang mereka alami, dosa yang mereka alami, seakan-akan itu dosa-dosa saya. Saya menangisi mereka, saya mencintai mereka, saya menggerutu di hadapan Tuhan supaya Ia mengampuni saya. Saya orang berdosa. Saya ingin berhenti dari doa ini, tetapi tidak bisa. Saya terus bersyafaat bagi desa ini selama hampir dua setengah tahun, dan apa yang terjadi, hasil dari doa ini adalah kegerakan Allah terjadi luar biasa. Anak-anak muda mulai dijamah oleh Tuhan. Orangtua mereka yang tadinya tidak menyukai saya, ternyata Tuhan jamah melalui anak-anak-Nya. Akhirnya, selama dua setengah tahun, ketika saya merasa sudah waktunya saya tinggalkan daerah itu, saya melangkah keluar. Nah, sewaktu saya melangkah keluar dari desa itu, saya mendapat informasi bahwa penuaian terjadi luar biasa. Anak-anak muda diutus Tuhan untuk mengikuti sekolah-sekolah Alkitab di mana-mana.
Prayer
Saya melihat melalui pengalaman ini bahwa di mana pun kita berada sebagai hamba Tuhan, untuk dapat memenangkan suatu daerah bagi Tuhan, doa syafaat sangat penting. Jadi, kita harus mewakili mereka, apa pun dosa dan kesalahan mereka, seakan-akan itu adalah dosa saya sendiri. Jadi, tangisanlah yang Tuhan taruh kepada saya, makanya Tuhan berbicara kepada saya melalui kitab Mazmur 126 bahwa orang yang menabur dengan mencucurkan air mata, ia akan pulang dengan sorak sorai sambil membawa berkas-berkasnya. Selama dua setengah tahun, saya kembali. Ketika saya tidak lagi berada di situ, penuaian terjadi.
Akhirnya, apa yang terjadi? Di tempat saya menangisi mereka itulah, itu ada sebuah gereja GBI. Sebelumnya, tidak ada gereja sama sekali. Saya pikir inilah cara Tuhan supaya ada benih yang ditaburkan. Awalnya, saya tidak mau masuk ke desa tersebut karena desa ini sudah Kristen. Namun, kehidupan rohani mereka tidak bertumbuh. Wilayahnya sendiri masih berupa hutan dan terpencil, dan kami sekeluarga tinggal di tengah-tengahnya, di bawah pohon saya tinggal bersama istri dan kedua anak saya. Banyak hal yang kami alami sampai Tuhan proses saya selama tiga setengah tahun. Tuhan tidak pernah meninggalkan kami walaupun dalam masalah makanan dan minuman, kami pernah tidak punya makanan. Saya ingat pada suatu sore, di tempat yang sama, anak laki-laki saya minta makan ikan sementara kami tidak punya uang. Laut bergelora dan waktu sudah menunjukkan pukul lima sore. Bagaimana saya mendapatkan ikan? Akan tetapi, Tuhan membuktikan bahwa Ia sanggup memelihara. Pukul lima sore, saya dituntun oleh Roh Kudus pergi ke laut. Sampai di laut, apa yang terjadi, pada ombak yang terakhir Tuhan hempaskan ikan yang sangat besar.
Roma 12
Itu mukjizat pertama yang saya dapat dari Tuhan sebagai suatu bukti bahwa pemeliharaan Tuhan sungguh sangat sempurna. Di mana pun kita berada, Tuhan memelihara kita. Asalkan kita hadapi semua persoalan dan tantangan dalam pelayanan itu dengan iman, jangan dengan perasaan. Karena jika dengan perasaan, kita akan cenderung mengasihani diri sendiri. Akan tetapi, hadapilah segala sesuatu dengan iman. Percaya bahwa apa pun yang terjadi, semua ada dalam rencana Tuhan. Itu adalah pengalaman pertama saya dalam penginjilan, memenangkan satu desa untuk Tuhan. Sampai-sampai, anak-anak muda di desa itu sekolah Alkitab di mana-mana. Sekarang, mereka dipakai Tuhan di mana-mana. Dulu, mereka pernah sampai adili saya hanya karena nama Yesus. Mereka mengatakan bahwa saya seorang nabi palsu. Akan tetapi, saya tetap menyadari bahwa saya ada di sini karena rencana Tuhan. Bagaimanapun, semua pemuda-pemudi bahkan semua jiwa-jiwa di sana akhirnya masuk dalam pembaruan karena mereka sudah Kristen, tetapi tidak hidup dalam pertobatan. Itulah cara Tuhan supaya pemulihan dan pembaruan terjadi dalam setiap orang percaya di situ. Jadi, bukan hanya sekadar Kristen, tetapi betul-betul mengalami perubahan hidup secara rohani. Jadi, peran doa di situ sangat penting.
POKOK DOA
  1. Mari kita doakan untuk pelayanan Pak Yohanes beserta keluarga supaya mereka dapat menjadi saluran berkat di mana saja Tuhan tempatkan mereka untuk melayani.
  2. Mari kita berdoa untuk setiap orang yang bersedia untuk dipakai Tuhan seperti halnya Pak Yohanes yang mau bertekun dalam pergumulan doanya.
  3. Mari kita juga berdoa untuk setiap kesaksian yang kami terbitkan. Kiranya kesaksian tersebut menjadi alat Tuhan untuk menjangkau jiwa, dan melaluinya kita semakin melihat penyertaan serta pemeliharaan Tuhan yang nyata. Berdoa juga untuk banyak orang agar mau bersaksi akan kasih Tuhan dalam hidup mereka yang dapat memberkati.
"Bersukacitalah dalam pengharapan, tabahlah dalam kesesakan, dan bertekunlah dalam doa!"
(Roma 12:12, AYT)

Beja, Bedawi in Sudan

Beja, Bedawi in Sudan
The Beja are a pastoral tribe who have made their home in the desert between the Nile River and the Red Sea for over 4,000 years. Due to their crown of fuzzy hair, Rudyard Kipling referred to them as "the Fuzzy Wuzzies." The Beja do not refer to themselves as Beja, but call themselves by the land in which they are living. The Beja consider life good if they have numerous livestock and green, well-watered pastures. Nearly all Beja live in rural areas.
Ministry Obstacles
The Beja tribe lives in rural areas in a region that is difficult for outsiders to enter, and they are somewhat nomadic.
Outreach Ideas
Christians need to find ways to help the Beja with material and physical needs, caring out of genuine concern for their well-being.
Pray for the followers of Christ
There are few if any followers of Jesus among this large tribe, but pray for those the Lord will soon call to himself. Pray the Lord is even now preparing pastors and teachers to help them become established in the faith. Pray for Scripture availability, and for other needed resources.
Pray for the entire people group
Pray the Beja tribe will be able to provide adequately for their families as they live in a harsh area of the world. Pray for good water, sufficient food, and peace with their neighbors.
Scripture Focus
"All nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name." Psalm 86:9
 

People Name: Beja, Bedawi
Country: Sudan
10/40 Window: Yes
Population: 2,303,000
World Population: 2,633,000
Language: Bedawiyet
Primary Religion: Islam
Bible: Portions
Audio NT (FCBH): No
Jesus Film: No
Audio Recordings: Yes
Christ Followers: Few, less than 2%
Status: Unreached
Progress Level:

Don’t waste your life; help complete the Great Commission

Francis Chan: Don’t waste your life; help complete the Great Commission

By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
Francis Chan preaching useLAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA (ANS -- January 7, 2016) -- Noted author and preacher Francis Chan urged believers not to waste their lives on fruitless pursuits, but to join with him and others focused on planting churches among the remaining unreached people groups of the world.
“We have to mobilize to get the Gospel to these people,” Chan declared at the Finishing the Task conference December 8th at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.
“But the other thing we’re accomplishing is helping people not to waste their lives. They are doing something you know God wants. You know it has eternal significance,” he told a group of mission-minded leaders at the conference.
Chan said following the command of Jesus given in Matthew 28 is the ultimate antidote to a purposeless existence. “How many people wander through life wondering if they wasted it?” he asked.
“But this is not a waste; it’s straight out of Scripture.”
Chan also spoke at the same conference in 2015. “Last year this conference impacted me in a big way. I went home and told my staff I’m not taking another speaking engagement this year unless it has to do with reaching unreached people groups,” he noted.
Chan and wife minister in AfricaTwo months ago Chan visited an unreached group in Africa for the first time. “We took two flights and a helicopter and we were in the middle of nowhere,” he recounted.
“A young missionary was there speaking their language perfectly. I heard him explaining to people who had never in history heard about Jesus. I’ve been in ministry 30 years and I’ve never witnessed something like that. It was so beautiful.”
Chan wished he had engaged in missions work earlier. “I was jealous that I didn’t have the courage at his age to do something like this,” he noted.
“There are days I wonder if what I’m doing is worth it. But standing with a tribe who never heard of Jesus and there is no guessing. It’s the coolest thing. There is no doubt in my mind he is not wasting his life.”
Photo captions: 1) Francis Chan preaching. 2) Chan and his wife minister in East Africa on their 20th anniversary. 3) Mark Ellis.
Mark EllisAbout the writer: Mark Ellis is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and also founder of www.GodReports.com, a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from around the world.
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Worship saved John Piper’s marriage

Worship saved John Piper’s marriage

By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS -- January 7, 2016) -- He is one of the most influential pastors, authors, and theologians in America. Recently he shocked an interviewer by revealing that he and his wife had deep struggles in their marriage, but corporate worship played a decisive role in changing John Piper’s attitude toward his wife.
John Piper“I think I’m still married because of corporate worship,” Piper told Pastor C.J. Mahaney and an audience of pastors at the 2016 Sovereign Grace Churches Pastors Conference held in late October.
“What do you mean by that?” a stunned Mahaney asked, momentarily taken aback. Mahaney leads a Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville.
“Noel and I would have periodic, real struggles, not communicating, hurting each other with our words, feeling hopeless that we could be happy,” Piper confessed. John and his wife, Noel, have been married since 1968, have five grown children and numerous grandchildren.
Undoubtedly, many at the conference had no idea about Piper’s marital struggles.
“I would go to church under those awful conditions and I’m supposed to preach,” Piper continued.
But when God inhabits the praise of His people, hearts soften and a renewed perspective emerges.
“In those moments of singing about His greatness and His mercy -- the gospel -- I would generally be melted and I would feel hope,” Piper told the other pastors.
As his spirit connected vertically with God, a shift took place in his mind. What an idiot, he thought to himself, that I would make so much out of that (situation with his wife).
“That would happen repeatedly in song, in corporate worship,” he told Mahaney. As God increased, Piper was humbled and renewed hope emerged. “God struck me down with hope. With hope he struck me down.”
Photo captions: 1) John Piper. 2) Mark Ellis.
Mark EllisAbout the writer: Mark Ellis is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and also founder of www.GodReports.com, a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from around the world.
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The “Season of Giving” is Over

The “Season of Giving” is Over, but as Hunger and Homelessness Continue – Assistance Still Needed

By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (jeremyreynalds@gmail.com)
Homeless familyALBUQUERQUE, NM (ANS -- Jan 7. 2017) -- For about two months out of each year, the telephone at Joy Junction, New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter, rings almost off the hook with calls from happy sounding voices offering food, volunteer help and monetary gifts.
Our online giving portal at www.joyjunction.org is also busy, with concerned and kindhearted people wanting to make a donation.
As you may have guessed, I’m talking about the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. However, the need to take care of our city’s homeless is one that is year round.
But online giving makes a dramatic decline at 11.59 pm on new year’s eve, and when the phone rings after the holidays it’s usually a desperate family looking for help.
When someone comes in the office, rather than volunteers coming to help, many times in comes a sad and scared mom looking for a place to stay. Other times it’s an embarrassed and humiliated dad having to swallow his pride to make sure his wife and kids will find food and shelter until he finds a permanent place to stay.
Tonight and for days, weeks and months to come, Joy Junction will still shelter families who without our assistance would have no roof over their heads. Everyone we help is hurting in one way or another.
As concerned and caring community members, we need to remember two important facts. First, the homeless are with us year round, not only during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Second, with proper help, many of our guests, who have unique stories of quiet desperation that most of us could never imagine in our worst nightmares, can and do turn their lives around.
While many of the homeless have made bad decisions in their lives, such as getting involved with illegal drugs or abusing alcohol, who among us hasn’t made a bad choice? It’s just that usually our choices aren’t as obvious as those made by the homeless.
Jeremy Reynalds with homeless manAnd let’s face it. If you or I had been forced to contend with many of the unspeakable circumstances experienced by the homeless, who’s to say we wouldn’t make a similar choice?
Then there are others, who maybe because of domestic violence or a difficult economy, are just unable to make it without the assistance offered by Joy Junction or other similar ministries.
A number of the homeless are also people who have served this nation in times of need.
According to national surveys conducted in years past by Joy Junction and other faith-based ministries around the United States, nearly one in three men staying at homeless shelters is a veteran.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after working with New Mexico’s homeless for 30 years, it is that with the right sort of help, many of them turn their lives around.
Specifically, rehabilitation requires not only mental and physical counseling, but also spiritual nurturing to give these men and women the strength they need to return to society. That’s what Joy Junction in particular – and faith-based ministries in general – are all about.
This nurturing of faith is the key to taking people off the streets, giving them new lives and making them productive. Yet it must be done in a sustained way. Just as the problems creating homelessness are not “seasonal,” neither are the solutions.
The homeless need an environment in which they are kindly and compassionately challenged to acknowledge and quit unhealthy behaviors, otherwise they will never acquire the practical or emotional skills they need to succeed.
Establishing responsibility and accepting a consistent faith in Jesus Christ is the beginning of transforming a lifestyle learned on the streets to a safe and successful life.
Those of us who help Albuquerque’s homeless at Joy Junction do so because it’s both the Biblical thing and the right thing to do. It is that belief which gives us the strength to get out of bed every morning and care for men and women who are ignored by many people in Albuquerque.
As you go about your daily duties, please remember those in need. Even though we are officially past the holiday season, please use this very cold weather as a reminder to thank God for the blessings of your home and as an opportunity to reach out to others who are not so fortunate.
Sometimes when people consider the overall homeless picture, they declare the situation to be hopeless.
For Joy Junction, while helping the homeless is indeed difficult, with the transforming power of the Christian faith, combined with your generosity over the last 30-plus years, we are succeeding. We are ending homelessness and hunger one life and one meal at a time.
So with that in mind, I hope you will continue to remember us and others in 2017 who give food, shelter and a message of hope and encouragement to the homeless, hungry and discouraged. We’re making a difference.
Photo captions: 1) A homeless family. 2) Jeremy Reynalds greets a homeless man. 3) Jeremy Reynalds with his wife, Elma.
A Jeremy and Elma ReynaldsAbout the writer: Jeremy Reynalds, who was born in Bournemouth, UK, is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, www.joyjunction.org. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. One of his more recent books is “From Destitute to Ph.D.” Additional details on the book are available at www.myhomelessjourney.com. His latest book is "Two Hearts One Vision." It is available at www.twoheartsonevisionthebook.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Elma. For more information, please contact Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@gmail.com.
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Killed for Christ in the Philippines – a Love Story

Killed for Christ in the Philippines – a Love Story


January 12, 2017
Native missionaries holding hands in the Philippines.
Indigenous missionaries remain in hostile, remote areas in the Philippines that foreign missionaries have left due to security risks.
A little over two years ago, a Muslim in the Philippines named Datu* found himself at a Christian wedding – his daughter was marrying the son of a Christian pastor Datu had stoned for sharing Christ with his family members.
The pastor was now preaching at the wedding in a town (undisclosed) on the western peninsula of the island of Mindanao. Throughout the courtship, Datu was one of several area Muslims who had hurled stones at the pastor, his church building and his home. Some of the Muslims had issued threats, with Datu saying he wished to kill the pastor's son for courting his daughter.
Pastor Bagwis* had shared the gospel with Datu's family members in the first place because his son, Efren*, loved Datu's daughter. When Datu saw that she returned Efren's love, the Muslim father objected, but over time he acknowledged that Efren was a good man, said the director of an indigenous ministry that discipled the pastor.
Datu consented to the marriage after exacting a high dowry – a carabao (water buffalo), cow, goat and chicken. The ministry director said God miraculously helped Pastor Bagwis to provide the dowry. The date of the wedding was set, with Pastor Bagwis stating they had to be married in a church because his son was Christian.
While foreign missionaries have largely left the Philippines due to security threats, indigenous missionaries there continue to live, work and preach in harsh spiritual climates.
"During the marriage ceremony, Pastor Bagwis preached Jesus Christ crucified," the ministry director said. "To God be the glory, Datu and his family repented, confessed Christ, believed and accepted Jesus Christ."
Datu and his oldest son were baptized a month later, and Muslim relatives began to threaten and harass them. His son was so bold in proclaiming Christ in the predominantly Muslim area that Pastor Bagwis obtained permission from Datu and the director to relocate him for his safety to a ministry center in a distant city, where he received further discipleship training.
Datu, meantime, continued to be discipled and also became bold in proclaiming Christ, increasing the ire of Muslim relatives.
"He suffered the same things that he had done to Pastor Bagwis," the director said. "If before he was the one who stoned the church and Pastor Bagwis, now he also suffered the same things after he became a Christian and practiced and obeyed biblical doctrine."
In the last week of December 2015, Datu's son went home to visit his family. The next week – a year ago this month – the director received a call from him that Datu had been killed.
Filipino family with coffin.
The slain Christian's family made a coffin and buried him in one day.
He had five stab wounds on his back, and his neck had been cut in the front and back in an apparent attempt at decapitation, "because Muslims there practice beheading if they don't like the person," the director said.
Datu's son told the director that the family and other church members had gathered on Jan. 2, 2016 for a dinner of thanksgiving for blessings of the previous year. His father had told them that he would first get two ducks that he would cook for the feast.
After waiting for hours, they began to search for him. At 3 a.m. on Jan. 3, a neighbor found Datu's mutilated body. Unable to pay for a coffin, a morgue or a funeral service, Datu's son and the pastor hurriedly built and painted a coffin and buried him that day.
"Please pray for the man who did this horrible and brutal thing to Brother Datu," the director said. "They suspect that the one who did this is Brother Datu's uncle, because he is the right hand of the imam there. Please pray for their salvation."
Datu had received threats, but he'd said he didn't mind because he felt he deserved them for having previously persecuted the church, the director said.
"They killed him because Datu was boldly sharing the gospel in the town," he said. "I told his children that they have to remember their dad as he was before he was killed, and that the memories they have to hold dearest are the ones of when he was healthy, and especially the wonderful moments God gave of praying together and having fun together. And, best of all, that we know we will see him again in Heaven."
One year later, the family continues to hold fast to Christ and proclaim him, along with the ministry's other indigenous evangelists. While foreign missionaries have largely left Mindanao due to security threats, indigenous missionaries there continue to live, work and preach in harsh spiritual climates.
The director said Muslims recently visited another center on Mindanao where a children's program was held. One of the visitors told the center leader that they had come to observe activities to find out what they were doing that had incited their fellow Muslim tribesman to burn down their church building last year.
"Maybe what you do is 'haram' [forbidden by Allah]," the Muslim told the leader. "The center leader said, 'Okay, you can observe us.' The man and his wife and child, and other wives from the tribal group who moved to the village got to join the children's month celebration."
Other Muslim women also came to observe, with the leader and Christians praying and fasting that God would shine and be magnified, the director said. They prayed that they could offer educational scholarships to their children, and that the Muslim visitors would know that what they offer as a Christian learning center is not bad but all for the glory of God.
After the month-long children's program, the Christians invited the visitors to a meal, which the Muslims declined.
"These visitors would not eat with them even if they prepared food for them," the director said. "The guests said, 'There is another time we can eat together with you.' Pray that the bridges that were built for the gospel, and the seeds that were sown, would bear much fruit!"
To help indigenous missionaries to meet needs, you may contribute online using the form below, or call (434) 977-5650. If you prefer to mail your gift, please mail to Christian Aid Mission, P.O. Box 9037, Charlottesville, VA 22906. Please use Gift Code: 801PGE. Thank you!

Fun Food

 .
An indigent orphan in the Philippines is high on life as he enjoys a meal provided by an indigenous ministry on Mindanao Island. He is one of hundreds of poor children the ministry has served through school, puppet and feeding programs in the past year. Besides its orphanage, the ministry operates a senior citizens center. These outreaches help build bridges for the ministry’s goal of planting a new church every year. “Please remember in prayer our orphanage ministry for the abandoned, underprivileged children and the starving, unhealthy indigent children in the communities whose families are below the poverty line,” the ministry director said.